Saturday, 12 August 2017

Berliner Biermeile

It turns out Joe meant lamppost 47 yesterday. No wonder I couldn’t find him. We’ve arranged to meet there again today. It’s where Kout na Šumavě is. So I’m not arguing.

Feeling all health-conscious, I have some fruit as well as fried stuff for breakfast.

“That means I can treat myself to an extra couple of beers.”

“You’ll do that anyway, Ronald.”

“You’re so cynical.”

“Realistic. I grew up in the DDR, remember?”

We’ve a date with the supermarket, first. A chance for me to stock up on some hotel beers. While Dolores fiddles around buying some foodstuff or other. She needs to get her priorities right. After dumping our food and drink we head to the festival.

Kout na Šumavě 12º
My first time trying this. Will it disappoint? So many have sung its praises. It doesn’t. Really nicely hoppy. Top stuff.

Eggenberg Tmavý Ležák 11°
Pretty dark, slightly roasty, not too sweet. OK. Not as good as the Kout, obviously.

Joe rolls up when I’m on my second beer. He has a couple of hours before he needs to go home for a BBQ. Should be long enough. Always good to meet him, which usually happens a couple of times a year.

Andreas Krennmair, a young Austrian living in the city, arrives soon after with his Irish wife. He’s been investigating continental beer, especially German beers, the way I’ve been looking into British beers. We’ve never met before, but have had contact on the internet. Plenty for us to chat about.

Another thing I love about this festival is the food. Country-appropriate – so Czech stuff close to the Czech brewery stands – mostly pretty good and not that expensive. I invest in a Czech sausage. Like the Kout, it doesn’t disappoint.

It’s starting to get a bit crowded. Just time for one last beer. I guess I’ll make it something nice and light.

Maryensztadt Żywot Barley'a (22º Plato, 9.5% ABV)
An English Barley Wine, evidently. Sweet and gloopy as a Barley Wine should be. Full of alcoholy goodness.

Černá Hora Světlý Ležák (4.8% ABV)I couldn’t pass this one up. It’s the beer I was drinking when I first met Dolores. It’s a lovely, light and hoppy beer, the type of beer they make so well in the Czech Republic.
It’s about time for us to leave. But we’re still hungry. What to do next?

We’ve noticed a Korean restaurant on Warschauerstrasse. The food looked dead good when we walked past. We decide to eat there. I get a big pile of crispy fried pork on a bed of rice. It costs about threepence and is more than I can manage to eat. I’m not about to leave something so nice. We take the leftovers home in a doggy bag.

Kout na Šumavě at the Berlin beer mile!! Things are changing. That stuff is so good and I think I like the 10° more. Too bad about the price as it is so cheap in Czech. I am also a big fan of Únětické Pivo 12°... maybe just slightly more.

Learn something new every day. I did not know there was an Eggenberg brewery in the Czech Republic. Here in the U.S., I have only seen the Ur-Bock from the Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg in Austria (one of my favorites).